As JVM gets closer to being the de-facto VM for running any language (Jython, jRuby, Scala, Java, etc), the possibility of higher performance by running the VM "closer to metal" is quite exciting. I commend Sun on pushing JVM beyond just Java.
What I like most about this idea is that system administration via init scripts, et al, can just go away -- presumably one will have APIs for interacting with the available hardware, necessary 'OS' services, etc.<p>It'd make automated deployment of systems even more manageable -- turtles all the way down.